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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Photograph by: Claus Andersen
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Vrbata, a 33-year-old native of the Czech Republic, was the last 20-goal scorer left standing after Tuesday’s opening of free agency where most of the top available offensive players were scooped up. Nine teams were vying for Vrbata’s services.

Vrbata spent the last five seasons with the Arizona Coyotes. In 2013-14, he netted 20 goals and added 31 assists in 80 games. His best season came in 2011-12 when he scored 35 times and had 27 assists for 62 points.

Vrbata will receive $4 million in salary and $1 million as a signing bonus in each of the two years. There is a limited no-trade clause in his deal. His signing gives the offensively challenged Canucks some wriggle room as they wait for a bevy of winger prospects like Jake Virtanen, Hunter Shinkaruk and Dane Fox to develop.

When the deal came together it was 2 a.m. Czech time and Vrbata was sound asleep in Mlada Boleslav, his off-season home.

“The free agency period can be a very trying process for everyone involved – players, agents and management – and we had so much dialogue the last couple of days that Radim was exhausted,” said Vrbata’s South Surrey-based agent, Rich Evans of Points West Sports and Entertainment. “I just told him to go to bed and if anything really serious popped up, I would give him a call and wake him up. So I woke him up at 2 a.m. his time, went through the deal points with him and then he spoke to Jim Benning (Canuck GM) and had a good discussion with Jim. On that basis, he agreed to the deal, we executed the contract, he was very excited and I told him to go back to bed.”

According to Evans, Vrbata is expecting an opportunity to skate on the team’s first line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. He found that very attractive, as almost any player would.

“I guess he’s going to have to earn the spot but the opportunity is hopefully there for him to do that,” Evans continued. “The twins play a style of game that is well suited to the style that Radim plays, which is pitch and catch where they move the puck very quickly. The twins are both smart players and he is hoping to recapture some of the success he had when he was playing with Ray Whitney down in Phoenix.”

In addition to possibly playing with the twins, Vrbata could be an option on the Canucks’ first power-play unit, where the team will need to replace the right shot of the departed Ryan Kesler. Vrbata netted 10 power-play goals last season for the Coyotes, who finished fourth in the league with the man advantage. The Canucks, of course, were a dismal 26th.

“I think his history has shown he’s had a lot of success on the power play,” Evans noted. “He hopes to continue that here in Vancouver.”

Vrbata was originally a seventh-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 1999. After three seasons of junior in the Quebec League with Hull and Shawinigan, he broke into the NHL with the Avs in 2001-02. He's also played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 792 regular-season games, Vrbata has scored 215 goals and collected 464 points. Last season as a Coyote, he put 263 shots on goal, a total higher than anyone on the Canucks including Kesler, who had 239.

CANUCKS SIGN THREE MORE

In addition to the high-profile signing Wednesday of winger Radim Vrbata, the Vancouver Canucks also turned their attention to organizational depth as they inked a trio of players, centres Cal O’Reilly and Dustin Jeffrey and defenceman Bobby Sanguinetti. All three are on two-way contracts, all will make $600,000 at the NHL level and all are likely headed to the Canucks’ American League farm team, the Utica Comets.

O’Reilly, 27, is the older brother of Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan while Jeffrey, 26, played part of last season for new Canuck coach Willie Desjardins with the Texas Stars. Sanguinetti, 26, was a first-round pick of the New York Rangers in 2006. He spent last season with the KHL’s Moscow Oblast Atlant.

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